The 48 Laws Of Power

M6

?

LAW 20

PARTI:DONOTCOMMITTO

ANYONE,

BUTBECOURTEDBYALL

Ifyou

allow

people

to

feel

they

possessyou

to

anydegree,

you

loseall

power

overthem.

By

not

committingyouraffections, tfwy

will

only

try

harderto

win

you

over

Stayaloof

and

yougain

the

power

thatcomes

from

theirat—

tentionand

frustrated

desire.

Play

the

VirginQueen:

Givethem

hope

but

never

satisfaction.

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

When

Queen

ElizabethIascendedthethroneof

England,

in

1558,

there

wasmuchto-doabouther

finding

ahusband.TheissuewasdebatedinPar-

liament,

andwasa.main

topic

ofconversation

amongEnglishmen

ofall

classes;

they

often

disagreed

astowhom

sheshould

marry,

but

everyone

thought

sheshould

marry

assoonas

possible,

fora

queen

must

havea

king,

andmustbearheirsforthe

kingdom.

Thedebates

raged

onfor

years.

Meanwhilethemosthandsomeand

eligible

bachelorsintherealm-Sir

Robert

Dudley,

the

Earlof

Essex,

SirWalter

Ra.leigh———vied

forElizabetlfs

hand.She

didnot

discourage

them,

but

she

seemedtobeinno

hurry,

and

herhintsastowhichman

might

beherfavoriteoftencontradictedeach

other.In

1566,

Parliamentsenta

delegation

toElizabeth

urging

herto

marry

beforeshewastoooldtobearchildren.Shedidnot

argue,

nordid

she

discourage

the

delegation,

butsheremaineda

virgin

nonetheless.

Thedelicate

game

thatElizabeth

played

withhersuitors

slowly

made

herthe

subject

ofinnumerablesexualfantasiesand the

object

of

cultish

worship.

Thecourt

physician,

Simon

Forman,

usedhis

diary

todescribe

hisdreamsof

deflowering

her.Painters

represented

herasDianaandother

goddesses.

The

poet

Edmund

Spenser

andotherswrote

eulogies

totheVir-

gin

Queen.

Shewasreferredtoas“tha,wor1d’s

Empresse,”

“that

virtuous

Virgo”

whorulestheworldandsetsthestars

inmotion.In

conversation

with

her,

her

many

malesuitorswould

employ

boldsexual

innuendo,

a

darethatElizabethdidnot

discourage.

Shedidallshecouldtostirtheirin

terestand

simultaneouslykeep

themat

bay.

ThroughoutEurope,kings

and

princes

knewthata

marriage

withEliz-

abethwouldsealanalliancebetween

England

and

any

nation.The

king

of

Spain

wooed

her,

asdidthe

prince

ofSwedenandthearchdukeofAustria.

She

politely

refused

themall.

The

greatdiplomatic

issueofElizabetlfs

day

was

posedby

therevolt

oftheFlemishandDutch

Lowlands,

whichwerethen

possessions

of

Spain.

Should

England

breakitsalliancewith

Spain

and

choose

Franceasits

main

ally

onthe

Continent,

thereby

encouraging

FlemishandDutch

indepen-

dence?

By

1570 ithadcometoseemthatanalliancewithFrancewouldbe

England’s

wisestcourse.Francehadtwo

eligible

menofnoble

blood,the

dukesof

Anjou

and

Alencon,

brothersoftheFrench

king.

Wouldeitherof

them

marry

Elizabeth?Bothhad

advantages,

andElizabeth

kept

the

hopes

ofbothalive.Theissuesimmeredfor

years.

Thedukeof

Anjou

madesev-